Lower salinity for living in a higher altitude?

[tirtza]

Question: Does anyone one on SWF.com live at a particularly high altitude? If so, what do you keep your salinity level at?
Background of my question:
I was at my LFS today and had them do some routine checks of my water quality (just for confirmation that I'm getting the same test results at home). Even though I'm a newbie I know by now to take everything I hear at an LFS 'with a grain of salt'. The employee told me that my salinity (which is 1.025) is to "high". He said that because we live in Denver the altitude (which is 5280), the salinity, and the temperature all combined affect the oxygen level in my aquarium. He suggested that I lower my salinity to 1.022
I researched this issue a bit on the web and here's an article I found:
http://www.elitereef.com/o2saturation.htm

 

[travelerjp98]

I'm not sure about this... but that is an interesting subject. I will subscribe!

 

[bang guy]

First, 1.025 is a Specific Gravity reading, not a salinity reading.
But more to the point, if you have good waterflow and your skimmer is functioning properly then there will always be plenty of oxygen in the water for your animals unless you get really high, like over 12K feet.
Your LFS is correct about one thing though, increasing salinity will definately reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen your water can hold.
Bottom line, find out what the environment is like where your most delicate animals come from in the wild and match it as best you can.

 

[tirtza]

Thanks for the correction about the specific gravity term Shark
I have an Oceanic Biocube protein skimmer, but since my tank is so new (2 months) and I have a very low bio-load I'm under the impression that I shouldn't use it yet. Would it either hurt or help to start using it now? Right now it's just sitting in it's box ready to go.
The only fish I have, two Ocellaris Clown Fish and a Lawn Mower Blenny both come from the Indo-Pacific. I suppose I'll have to find out what those conditions are (specific gravity & temperature), and then make adjustments due to the high altitude I live at. It would also be a great help to find other people in who live in similarly high altitudes and find out what if any adjustments they make as well. If you live at a high altitude, and read this please let me know what you do!
Thanks!

 

[travelerjp98]

I think it wouldn't hurt to use the skimmer now.

 

[aquaknight]

Is the Biocube going to be fish-only, maybe with a couple inverts? Or planning on corals/reef setup?
If no corals, there's really no reason not to run slightly lower salinity, 1.022/1.021'ish, and slightly cooler on the temps 77°F-79°F.

 

[tirtza]

The Biocube was supposed to be fish-only with a couple of inverts, and then later on when it's mature enough and when have more experience I planned on adding some hard coral. However, when I first set up my tank some Button Polyp Zoa was attached to some live rock and it's been flourishing ever since. I'd like to keep it alive if possible. My temp. is 79.9 (it was actually cooler until several days ago...I mistakenly had it around 76 -77). Would lowering the salinity to 1.022 be healthier for the fish at this altitude. I read in the article that I included above that I don't want to to over saturate the water with O2, since it could lead to popeye and other problems. It just seems like such a delicate balance!

 

[aquaknight]

On the topic of supersaturation, I definitely disagree with the article. With the home aquarium, and standard home aquarium equipment, supersaturation just isn't possible.
In contrary to my previous advise, if your tank is flourishing and doing well, just leave it alone. I would make sure 79.9 is the hottest the tank gets (after the lights have been on all day), and that you keep the tank topped off, so salinity won't climb past 1.025/6.
A lot of what you see, as far as things like that article, is people searching for answers to problems, they can't quite seem to resolve.

 

[bang guy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by tirtza http:///t/388093/lower-salinity-for-living-in-a-higher-altitude#post_3420701
I read in the article that I included above that I don't want to to over saturate the water with O2, since it could lead to popeye and other problems. It just seems like such a delicate balance!
I've not heard that excess oxygen leads to Popeye. I'm not on board with that.
In my opinion it is not a delicate balace at all. Just make sure you have plenty of waterflow and your skimmer is functioning properly so you're not building up on Carbon dioxide and there will be no issue with gas exchange.